by Colin Morley

Created on: February 14, 2011   Last Updated: February 16, 2011

The Berlin Wall was a structure erected by the German Democratic Republic following the division of Berlin at the end of the Second World War.  By allied agreement, the city of Berlin had been sub-divided into US, Russian, French and British controlled areas or sectors.

The German Democratic Republic, heavily under Soviet influence, saw the outflow of citizens to the West (Federal Republic of Germany) of this now divided country, looking to improve their social and economic growth in a manner denied them by Communism.

In 1961, the East German authorities erected a wire fence around the Soviet sector of Berlin, dividing it from other sectors and patrolled by border guards.  Their stated reason was to prevent the influx of fascism to the East, but in reality it was a means of ensuring the Soviet controlled population could not defect to the West.  Over a period of years the wire fence was replaced by a reinforced wall and fiercely protected by border police.  Exact figures of those people killed trying to cross from East to West are unknown, but are estimated at over 200.

When in August 1989, a series of anti-Soviet uprisings in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Czechoslovakia led to growing civil unrest in Eastern Europe, Hungary effectively disabled its border crossing with Austria. This allowed some 13,000 East Germans to flee the German Democratic Republic via Hungary into the Federal Republic of Germany via its neighbour and ally, Austria.

Hungarian authorities tried to stem the tide of emigrants by sending East Germans back to the GDR, but many occupied the West German embassy in Budapest.  In Czechoslovakia, a similar scenario unfolded, with East Germans occupying the West German embassy in Prague.

Ultimately, the GDR had no option but to relent, permitting citizens to leave East Germany, providing they did so on a train provided by the state which crossed directly from East to West Germany, bypassing the neighbouring states of Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

Now the civil unrest which had started in the satellite republics spread to the German Democratic Republic itself, with citizens taking to the streets protesting against Soviet rule.  By October 1989, GDR president, Erich Honecker was forced to resign.

By early November, rumours were beginning to circulate that the GDR would relax all restrictions of travel by its citizens.  An announcement was to be made by Politburo Chief Gunter Schabowski, but when he was asked by an Italian journalist when restrictions would be relaxed, he replied that as far as he knew, it would be immediate.

That was enough for West German television and radio stations to announce that restrictions on travel had been lifted and for East German citizens in Berlin to flood out onto the streets, demanding that border guards immediately open the gates.

Bewildered guards were powerless against the assembled masses and gates were opened.  People climbed onto the wall waving flags and banners and started tearing down pieces of the wall using any implements they had brought from home.  Press photographers, film crews and journalists from all over the world quickly headed to Berlin to capture the scenes on film for newsreels and newspapers.

The end had come for Soviet restrictions on East Berlin and East Germany.  Demolition of the wall officially started soon afterwards. In December 1989, travel between East and West Germany was permitted without visas or other formalities.

Barely one year later, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic were reunited after nearly thirty years of division.

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